Michigan officials tight lipped on proposed theme park

Near grayling? That's in the middle of nowhere... I wonder how a park that big could be successful that far north?

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from the article: Local and state officials remain tight-lipped about a proposed theme park for Crawford County, possibly a Main Street USA or Six Flags location.

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Okay... call me skeptical already.

Six Flags?

And this has nothing to do with their finanaical situaiton either. Even in relative good times when was the last time Six Flags built a park from the ground up?

Six Flags should move to Omaha. The closest Theme parks are 2 1/2 hours away. They would probably see a huge rise in attendents during the College World Series, Olympic Swimming Trials, and NCAA Volleyball Final Four. I know the later one is just this year and the Olympic trials are in 2008 I think but more events like these are going to be coming our way with the new arena.

That sure is up north. Wonder what the operating season would be... July 1st to July 2nd?

This would be great, 3 parks within a 3 hour drive for me.

Here is Michigan people love going up north so it could work if done right, after all Mackinac City/Island draw a million plus people a year and that is a good hour/two hours north of Grayling. I wonder how that water park up in Mackinac City does... the few times my girlfriend and I went to the island this year the place looked pretty crowded (though it looks like all it has is a couple of slides and a pool or two).

I think they would be better off if it was built as part of a ski resort complex... rides/golf in summer, ski in winter.

700 year around employees? That seems alittle high...

Would this mean jobs actually coming to Michigan? Who would have thought that could happen?

The tourism industry is absolutly huge in Michigan. I could easily see this work if done right.

Well, if they decided to open the park, I could see going to it maybe once. I'd go in August during the Saginaw County fair and ride Zyklon too. It only operates one week a year during the fair. I always wanted to go ride it, but that's was a long way to go for 1 coaster.

700 full time positions???? Anyone else find this number just a tad high??

Perhaps if you used more question marks I'd be in just as much disbelief.

It is a huge tourist area, close to Traverse City, indian casinos, skiing, Lake Michigan...as mentioned above, this could work if done right.

The 700 full time positions, though, makes me wonder if there will be more to this than a seasonal park...perhaps an indoor waterpark and large hotel? A domed themepark?

Walk, I happen to live in Cheboygan about fifteen minutes away from Mackinaw City and the ferry boats to Mackinac Island. I can assure you that our summers here are absolutely beautiful for the most part. Most summers since I have lived here, we have not had a lot of rain (in fact too little sometimes). We have had many 90 plus degree days. Our average temperature in July and August is probably in the low eighties or high seventies. Mackinaw City just opened a water park two years ago. I don't know how they are doing, but I have been there three times since the place has opened and it seems like attendance is building.

Andrew, to answer your question about what the water park has, it has a wave pool, lazy river, about eight slides (located on two towers), a climbing wall, an arcade, and a couple of kids areas. It is very nicely landscaped and it seems to be run very well.

I hope that there is some validity to this story. I would love to see an amusement park closer to me than Michigan's Adventure. Plus, my parents have a cabin on Higgins Lake which is located in Crawford County.

I can't imagine the park having a long enough season to be successful. It's primary season would be shorter than MiA's. If this project is real, I bet it doesn't last more than 10 years.

A park in that area's primary season would be from Memorial Day through Labor Day. The weather is usually beautiful during that span of time. That is the same primary season as many other parks (including Cedar Point). Yes, some parks have recently expanded their season with Halloween events, etc... but that is not their primary season. Remember that until a little over ten years ago, parks like Cedar Point operated on a calendar that didn't include much more than Memorial Day to Labor Day. Also, remember that Michigan is full of tourist attractions that operate on that primary schedule. Also remember that fall is a huge time in the area with color tours. Then winter has ice fishing, snowmobiling, skiing, etc... Granted that doesn't mean that an amusement park would operate for all of that, but it doesn't need to.

I moved to Northern Michigan 8 years ago. Since then, I have been very annoyed with people assuming that we have snow as soon as Labor Day passes and that the temperature suddenly drops to minus 10 degrees. The fact is, the temperature difference is not that great between Grand Blanc (where I grew up near Flint) and Cheboygan (where I currently live about 90 miles north of Grayling.) I'm not saying that this project will ever happen, but weather certainly does not make it out of the question.

1800 acre.. good sized park..

what could you do for 160mil? think like a Michigans Adventure? or a bit bigger? I have no clue.

Thanks,

Greg

It will be more like 3600 acres and have events year round. Much bigger than Mich Adventure.

As far as the Grayling Theme Park... Walmart was trying to buy the property and they was outbid by Six Flags. I have been told the property was a successful purchase. I'm hoping my info I was told is correct. Because there is nothing in Michigan and it would give a lot of good jobs that are needed. Michigan is one of the biggest tourist states in the world. I hope this theme park is a success.